05
Finn looked lost, holding his phone.
L
After a moment, he looked at me awkwardly.
“Well, if Ethan can’t make it, maybe we can
do it another time?”
He wasn’t stupid.
Anyone could see that Ethan didn’t want to
come because of me.
The meeting was just an excuse.
I nodded. I knew there wouldn’t be another
time.
After Finn left, my friend sighed.
She knew everything. It was her idea for me
to confess.
“He’s avoiding you? Because you like him?”
<
I said, Yeah.”
She sighed again. “He won’t even give you a
chance. If he doesn’t like you back, then why
was he so nice to you? Something is wrong
with him.”
I laughed.
That night, I lay in bed, thinking.
I realized how I’d met Ethan in the first place.
It was a long, less–than–pleasant memory.
Ethan was rich, handsome, and popular.
I was ordinary, invisible in a crowd.
His girlfriend was my roommate, Clara.
<
She wasn’t like me. She was very open about
what she wanted. She’d told Ethan she liked
him. He could say no and they could pretend
they had never met. Or, he could just be with.
her. None of that “you’re great, but let’s be
friends” thing.
That had to have affected Ethan.
The restaurant they met at was actually a
recommendation from me.
When they were together, Ethan treated us to
a meal.
That was the first time I’d met him. He was
already taken.
I watched, not really caring about what was
going on.
<
Then, they broke up, and Clara moved
abroad.
Ethan waited a long time outside her dorm,
but she didn’t come. I was the one that
showed up.
After I had finished telling my story, he got in
his car, and started to head to the airport.
I was worried. So, I got a taxi and followed
him.
He was driving way too fast.
By the time I arrived at the hospital, he had
been in an accident.
I followed the ambulance. Waited for him to
get out of surgery.
<
I called Clara.
But she had turned off her phone.
She had probably changed her number.
That night, I was the only one there.
The next day, I contacted his friends and
family through the school.
I never went back to the hospital.
Later, he woke up and they told him about
- me.
I was outside the dorm, when I saw him. He
was tall and handsome, and he had his friend
call me down.
<
I thought something was wrong, and I rushed downstairs. He looked at me, and smiled. “It’s
you.”
At that moment, I felt a weird emotion inside.
We had met a couple of times before, but he
never knew who I was.
I said, “Yeah.”
Then, I said, “Clara…”
His smile disappeared. “It’s fine.”
He was saying he was done with Clara.
I didn’t say anything more.
After that, he started to find me, bringing me
<
into his inner circle.
I went from being indifferent to affected.
Then, falling for him was the easiest thing in
the world.
He’d only been in one relationship, and that
was enough for him.
Clara came back a couple times to try to
reconcile, but he wouldn’t even acknowledge
her.
It was like he wasn’t the one chasing her to
the airport.
Last month, Clara announced her wedding,
and he was fine.
<
That’s when I was sure that he was really over
- it.
Everyone around me was saying, “Ethan is so great to you. He doesn’t have any girls. You’ll be together sooner or later.”
After hearing it so many times, I believed it.
When it came to love, I was either going to
succeed or it was going to blow up in my
face.
I was unlucky. It was the latter.
